Can Love Run Out?
by h2o48
Summary: A little girl looks to her mother for love and support, but what happens when that love dies? A girl, not older than 13, is left to take care of herself. Can she survive her abuse or will she drop the act. Can her friends help her. Will a boy convince her she can be loved, and love again. Read and find out. (Will Contain Trella)
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _I'm back! I know it's been forever since I've written, and you must hate me but here I am. Unfortunately, I won't be continuing my first story, out of lack of inspiration. But good news, here is a new one, and this will be more than 3 chapters, I promise. I don't know how this idea got in my head, but I couldn't resist._

 _Anyway in this story, everything is the same (ages, relationships, etc.) but,there's just one thing. Bella's father died in a car crash. That night, he and Bella's mom had a fight moments ago and he left because of it. After his death Carrie (Bella's mom) became an alcoholic and extremely bitter, especially toward Bella. She went from being the ideal mother to a border line abuser. Bella refuses to tell a soul, but the truth has to come out eventually._

* * *

Bella awoke the same way as any other morning. The vigorous alarm on her phone ceased it's blaring. Her emerald eyes opened, and she sat up in her bed. A small amount of sunlight crept through her blinds of her window and she smiled a bittersweet smile. _"Morning finally"_ she thought as she got ready for her day _._ She tried to be as quiet as possible, as she traveled and returned from the bathroom. She tiptoed past her mother's door, she knew if she awoke her mother during her hangover it would be ugly. _"She really chugged that vodka last night"._

She quickly finished getting dressed, suddenly her stomach moaned and hurt. She realized she hadn't since lunchtime yesterday. Hurrying downstairs, she made her breakfast, while clearing the leftover glasses off the table and washing them. She prepared eggs and french toast for her and her mother. She always left food for her, whenever she decided to wake up, she'd be hungry. When Bella finished she grabbed her backpack and left the house. She slung the bag over her shoulder, and then flinched. She rubbed the area on her arm a bit and signed.

 _(Last Night) "Bella!" She heard her name in an angry and slurred manner she knew was her mothers. She tapped her pencil on the notebook and debated whether to go or not. She could have easily have been in one of her drunken rages, but she came nonetheless. As she walked into the kitchen her mother was downing another glass and slammed it on the table. She looked disoriented and angry._

 _She looked at her daughter standing there like a scared little girl, she caught her eyes. "Those eyes" she thought, they were exactly like her husband's. She felt guilt, sadness and anger mixing with the alcohol she ingested. She walked over to her, the closer she got the more she shrunk in fear. "How many times do I have to call you before, you get off your ass and come" she snarled. "Sorry" she whispered, she felt a rough grab of her shoulder._

 _Her mother brought her closer and twisted her shoulder harder "Speak up". She yelped in response trying and failing to escape from her grip, the disobedience earned more pain. "Mom please!" she squealed, she was to the ground and released "How could I have given birth to such a pathetic thing" she stated looking down at her. Without giving her wounded child a second look she returned to her bottle._

 _Bella ran back upstairs to her bathroom. Truth be told her mom didn't always get physical. She would make insults constantly and half the time she was ignored. Sadly, she cherished that time. But when she would hurt her, she'd take care of whatever injury she sustained. She prepared an ice pack and placed on her shoulder softly. She prayed it wouldn't bruise, even if it did she'd try in some way to hide it._

(Present) The thought made her shiver a little but she pushed it all away when she reached school. Upon entering Silverado she observed all the students walking past her chatting amongst themselves, two of them caught her eye. Pepper and Sophie were suddenly at her side engaging her in the latest gossip in the school. She smiled at them, they were like sisters to her. Although she could undoubtedly trust them with anything and everything, she couldn't bring herself to reveal her life at home.

They knew her mother wasn't the ideal caretaker but they had zero idea of how far it went. "Its going to be AMAZING!" Pepper cheered in delight, "The Silverado carnival sure is great, I can't wait to try every ride they got" Sophie replied with determination in her eyes. "Can't wait either" Bella said as they continued down the hallway, classes wouldn't start for another 15 min. The boys approached them from behind, and aligned themselves in their usual fashion.

Newt clinging to Sophie like a love sick puppy, Sawyer entwining his fingers in Peppers giving her a shy smile earning a blush from her. And finally Troy rambling on about something to Bella. They were all walking as a group, but carried on separate conversations. Newt doing more of the talking, throwing in some "Hey will go out with me?" every now again, and getting a "No" every time, she still listened though. Sawyer and Pepper more or less just stared in each other's eyes the entire walk. And then came Troy and Bella.

Bella dipped in and out of the conversation, she thinks he's talking about something to do with coach refusing to do another one of his plays. She didn't need to listen all the time, but throw in a "You're totally right" every time he paused. When it appeared that he was about done she nonchalantly asked him a question. "Troy I get I'm your my teammate and we're friends but why do you always come to me with every little thing in that pops in your head" she stated shifting through, looking for her binder.

He shook his head "Bella, Bella, Bella, I would have thought you would have understood at this point" he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. She eyed him cautiously "Understood what exactly?" he started to explain. "Well we are a duo!" he declared. She looked at him "What, a duo?". "Of course, QB and Wide Receiver, not to mention the greatest team ever" he claimed "And that plus our friendship makes a duo". She kept looking at him "Still confused Dixon, what about Newt and Sawyer aren't you guys a trio or whatever and by that logic Sophie, Pepper and I are to?" she reasoned.

"No, best friends don't count, we are two people who balance each other out and are always there for each other" she rolled eyes and continued to let him talk. "You're the caring, determined and amazing not to mention the fact you're a female QB" he began she smiled at his comments and said "Awww". Then he held his head high interrupting the moment for his arrogance. "And I am the Wide Receiver who's smart, charismatic, athletic, good looking and-" he went on and on. "Ok I get" she stopped, he smirked "Then say it". She rolled her eyes again "We are a duo, alright!" she replied giggling.

She thought for a moment, maybe he was right. She didn't know how to explain their companionship until now. Of course his ego would be very annoying but he was generous and loyal when he wanted to be. And since she became Bulldog Buddies with DJ they've hung out a lot more. She brought the carnival and if he was going, he said he was and bring DJ since he's been begging him. Class was about to start so they all separated, Troy gave Bella a playful punch on the arm, which unfortunately made her wince.

"You Ok?" he asked curiously "Fine, just wore out my arm a bit" she lied. "Well don't blow out your arm before the game you've got through me the ball" he stated. "I'm astounded by your level of concern for me" she said sarcastically. "Now come on we can't be late for history" she said grabbing his arm and heading for class.

 _Until Next Time!_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The first three periods of the school day were pretty uneventful, lunch finally came. Bella was about to head into the cafeteria and greet her friends, when a thought struck her. She only gotten through half of her English homework last night, it was her next class so she couldn't just push it off. Her stomach grumbled _"Dang it"_ she thought, _"I have to skip lunch, and head to the library to finish"._ She turned around, and headed to do just that she held her gut _"Once again"._

No surprise Bella often had to bail on lunch, or stay up half way through the night to complete her work. It was horrible at times but she refused to let any her mother's alcohol fueled stupors get in the way of her life. As cliché as it sounds, her academics were very important to Bella, almost as almost more important than football. Was it difficult to juggle it all? Of course it was, but she hadn't survived this long by being weak, no matter her mother says.

She checked the time, she had about 35 minutes, more than enough time. The library for the most part was empty, except for a few wandering students and a couple of librarians. She waved at them both when they noticed her. Scanning the room for a good seat she decided upon an abandoned table near to back, shielded by shelves of books. Setting her bag on the table, she pulled out her binder and began to continue her work. The room was so quiet you could've heard a pencil drop from across the room. She enjoyed the peacefulness with a relieved bliss.

Her work described for her to SQUAS 10 Shakespeare plays. SQUAS was her teacher's acronym, for summarize, quote, analyze and symbolize. Meaning she had to comprehend the plays enough to explain them clearly. Freely quote a passage when asked and find/interpret symbols in them while applying them to other things in life. _"I'm already on the sixth, Macbeth"_ she thought _"Symbolism: The battle of light and dark is-"_ her gut growled again, she ignored it _"-eternal, and while the conflict is needed disrupting it will-"_ her thoughts themselves were disrupted _._

"Hey QB" she looked up in shock seeing Troy across from her at her table. "Oh hi" she said curiously, "What are you doing here, and how long have been sitting there?" she questioned. He smirked "Well Sophie and Pepper were worried about you not showing up to lunch-" he started nervously rubbing his arm. She was positive that he was also worried and no doubt Newt and Sawyer were as well, and thought it was incredibly sweet. "-So we all decided to look for you. And I was here for like 10 min" he finished "And you didn't say anything?" she asked, he shrugged.

"You just seemed busy, that's all" he answered, she realized she still had work to do and returned to it. Troy might have been fibbing a bit. He did show up 10 min ago, but she just seemed so concentrated and enveloped in her work he couldn't bring himself to stop her. Her focus was so mesmerizing and to be perfectly honest he found it pretty cute. It's almost like the look she gets when she plays football, the look of absolute determination is breathtaking. Bella had been continually sneaking peeks at Troy wondering what he was still doing here.

Troy didn't realize why he was still there as well or why he was grabbing her notebook right from under her and seeing what she still had to do "Hey! Give it back" she whispered. "You know I wouldn't have pegged you for someone who didn't do homework" he commented. She tried to snatch it back but failed and sighed. "Well I couldn't get it done last night" she said annoyingly, "And working through lunch doesn't seem very healthy" he stated nonchalantly still keeping the notebook away from as if it were a game. This time she stood and grabbed it out of his hands, more roughly than she had meant "Would you cut it out!" she said not to quietly.

She received a loud shush from those around them while he raised his hands up in defense. She sat down embarrassed and slightly ticked off. He frowned, she really was trying to work. They sat their in silence as she continued. She had thought he had left by now, but she was proven wrong when she saw him carefully slide her, what looked like a wrapped sandwich. She eyed it and looked at him "What's that"? He straightened "You should eat something". She smiled a bit "I miss lunch all the time, it's no big deal" she said continuing to write. "Come on, you look hungry" he said waving it in front of her look he was taunting a stray cat.

She was indeed starving so she snatched away, and proceeded to eat it. Yes she was hungry but she also knows he probably won't go away until she did. It tasted so good, she finished before she knew it "Dang girl, when you're hungry, you're really hungry" he exclaimed. "Thank You" she said wiping her mouth. "Is there anything else you need?" she asked noticing he still didn't leave. "Mind if I help you?" She didn't expect that from him and she knew better than to assume he was doing this out of selflessness. "You want to help me with school work?" she questioned, skepticism laced in her voice.

"Well you know how generous I am" he said arrogantly and knowingly lying. "Sure you are" she said, he sighed. "And I really don't get this symbolizing stuff" he stated truthfully, she nodded understandable. Their teacher thought relating the literature to symbols in our own life or metaphors could help us understand what we read more. It did make things simpler to learn, but when we had to do it on our own that became a problem for some, not Bella though. "Its not that hard, why don't I help you out" she offered.

He smiled, "Well if you really want to" he said. "Ok, but now how about I come over tonight and help, I'm already coming over to tutor DJ" She said gathering up her things. He stood a tad too eagerly "That would be great-" she smiled at him "I mean _the Troy_ doesn't need that much help" he said his usual arrogant self. This time she glared, he gulped "Thanks" he whispered. She liked it whenever he would realize his place.

She looked at him for a long moment. But now she wondered, he was the most caring she'd ever witnessed from him. He left lunch to go look for her, gave her part of his lunch and even offered to help her out. It's strange how she never noticed how he's changed in these short months. When they met he was a self-absorbed, misogynistic, irritating showoff and now. Well now it doesn't bother her as much as it used to, and it even seems like he working on those attributes.

Troy was having similar thoughts when they locked eyes. He considered Bella to be so different and by that he meant strange. In his world, girls did one thing and boys did another, and he was the best. But here goes this girl, this seemingly girly girl comes in and completely destroys everything. She actually plays football and replaced him as well, at that point he was mostly just mad at the fact she wasn't what he expected before and after she joined. She just had to be so...so great. It would have been better if she despised him, which she did in the beginning, but not as much as he hoped. Caring, sweet and honest it made it so hard to dislike her.

Eyes still locked, she smiled moving some of her hair back, and he smirked. Then the moment was gone, "There you two are!" Bella turned her head seeing Sophie and Pepper approaching. "What's up with you ditching lunch again" Sophie said crossing her arms worryingly. "Hey give her a break, she was doing homework" Troy said defensively, surprising the three girls. It stayed pretty awkward at that moment until, "You guys are harder to find than a needle in a haystack" Sawyer said suddenly joining the party with Newt. "Hey Bella you alright, I say walk out of the cafeteria" Newt said. "Thanks Newt but I'm cool now we should probably leave before we are late" she stated, Newt was like a loving little brother at times. _"With friends like these"_ she thought as they left.

 _Until Next Time!_


End file.
